


The Influence of...

by artimus13



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, New Game Plus, New Game Plus Shenanigans, but also just a little bit, but just a little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:46:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27144721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artimus13/pseuds/artimus13
Summary: “The influence of The Phantoms knows no bounds...I underestimated it, honestly.”Goro knew how to do this strategy quite well. He would throw out some simple words of praise, and then soon, he would have Kurusu eating out of the palm of his hand. However, like with most things involving Kurusu, a problem occurred in Goro’s grand plan.“So, what do you think of their name?” Kurusu asked.orAkira runs through many new game pluses (or whatever the plural of plus would be) in order to see Goro's reaction to all of the team names he can think up.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 21
Kudos: 232





	The Influence of...

**Author's Note:**

> Did I really just write a whole fic about one in game conversation. Yes, yes I really did, and I had quite a bit of fun writing it. Also sorry in advance if it seems OOC at some portions, but I tried my best.

For once in his life, Goro was actually running early. It seemed that life never allowed him to get ahead, but for once it seemed to take pity on him. He wasn’t sure if he was glad about that.

With a bit of his spare time, Goro decided to go to the small bakery in the Ginza line. It was the middle of summer, and they had pretty good iced drinks. It was also a possibility that he would run into Kurusu, but the only reason he hoped for that was because he wanted more intel on the Phantom Thieves and their leader. Obviously that was the only reason.

As luck would have it, the world really was in his favor today for some reason, he spotted a mess of black hair peeking above the early morning crowd. He might as well go over and spark up a conversion and possibly share opinions with the other boy.

‘ _No_ ,’ Goro mentally corrected himself, ‘ _you are going to go over there and see if Kurusu let’s anything slip about the Thieves._ ’

Shido was starting to get pushy, especially after Kaneshiro’s change of heart, about taking the thieves and their leader down, so might as well get information before their guard is up.

With that thought in mind, Goro made his way over to Kurusu and very nonchalantly started a conversation.

“It’s really summer now. I get sweaty just walking a little bit.”

‘ _Well_ ,’ Goro thought to himself, ‘ _consider this conversation officially started in the worst way possible.’_

Kurusu seemed to realise the odd comment as well because he looked at Goro with what he could best describe as bemused pity. Maybe the world was out to get Goro today after all. Well, he mind as well continue this conversation; it would probably just be odder to walk away now anyways.

“I didn’t think Medjed would pounce on the Phantom Thieves.” Goro said, remembering his original goal of intel gathering, “Interesting things keep happening this year.”

Interesting things indeed kept happening, but it was time for Goro to throw out the bait that he was sure would get Kurusu to spill something. All he had to do was bring up the current popularity of the thieves, and Kurusu was sure to show a little pride towards it and let something slip.

“The influence of The Phantoms knows no bounds...I underestimated it, honestly.”

Goro knew how to do this strategy quite well. He would throw out some simple words of praise, and then soon, he would have Kurusu eating out of the palm of his hand. However, like with most things involving Kurusu, a problem occurred in Goro’s grand plan.

“So, what do you think of their name?” Kurusu asked.

“I’m sorry their...name?”

“Yeah, what do you think of their name?” Kurusu asked again with too much seriousness in his voice that Goro couldn’t play it off as a joke. Well if Kurusu wanted an honest answer, he supposes he’ll give one to the other boy.

“If you want my honest opinion, I think the name is a bit redundant.”

“Redundant?”

“Yes, I don’t see the point in coming up with a title like: The Phantom Thieves of Hearts only to shorten it to ‘The Phantoms’. Why not just choose one name over the other?”

“So you think it’s a lame name?”

“Well yes, putting it simply I think it’s a lame name. However, I think the real question is why do you care so much about what I think of their name Kurusu?”

Goro already knew that Kurusu would deflect with some nonsense about being a big fan of the thieves, but it was at least worth a shot. He really had nothing more to lose in this conversation anyway.

“Just collecting input from people. Heard the thieves might be updating their name soon.”

Goro could only begin to guess about the implications of that comment, and right as he was about to ask Kurusu what he meant, the train chose the exact right moment to stop any further conversation.

“It’s been fun chatting with you detective, but school calls. I’ll let the thieves know about your thoughts on their name. After all, I have connections to be able to relay your thoughts.” Kurusu said as he speed walked away from Goro with a wink.

Goro had to take a couple seconds to gather himself after that rollercoaster of a conversation because honestly, how was one supposed to just simply now go about their day after a small talk session like that?

He decided to just chalk it up to Kurusu trying to play off the fact that he was in fact the leader of the Phantom Thieves by being as unpredictable as always. Or he was just messing with Goro for some unknown reason.

Goro thought about the conversation a little more...

Kurusu was totally just messing around with him wasn’t he.

At this point, Goro had fully denounced the idea that the world would ever give him a nice day, and he carried on with the rest of his day forcing himself to forget the conversation. It wasn’t like there was anything particularly memorable (that was useful) about the conversation anyways, but in the end, he never managed to forget that one odd encounter.

Goro went about the business of the rest of his life until his life had ended. He came back for a bit, but he didn’t consider that a life. As far as he was concerned, he died in that miserable engine room.

However, unknown to him, a certain thief had the chance to try life over again, and he knew just what he was going to do with his multiple chances at life.

***

“The influence of The Diamonds knows no bounds...I underestimated it honestly.”

“Do you like their name?” Kurusu asked with a bit too much curiosity.

He thought that it was a very strange point for Kurusu to have latched onto, and something in the depths of his mind went through something akin to deja vu, but he ignored it in favor of answering Kurusu.

“It’s a nice name. It makes me wonder if the thieves really steal more than just hearts, and that could end up being helpful information to my investigation on them.” Goro said in his sweetest faux voice he could manage. His goal was to make Kurusu panic and put him on edge, but Kurusu for his part didn’t look fazed in the slightest.

“Don’t look too much into it Goro. My friend suggested it, and I just went with it out of politeness.”

‘ _First of all,’_ Goro’s train of thought started at a breakneck pace at Kurusu’s comment, ‘ _he very clearly just admitted, in a very crowded place, that he, at the very least, named the Phantom Thieves._ ’

Of course, Goro already knew the Kurusu was their leader, but to hear him so openly imply it and say it was something, but it wasn’t like Goro could do anything to Kurusu right now; they were in a, like he stated earlier, very crowded place, and Shido still wanted to benefit more from the thieves.

‘ _Secondly, and more importantly, he’s acting like he knows that I know he’s involved with the Phantom Thieves which is very much impossible. Third, I never gave Kurusu the right to call me by my first name, but I suppose that’s a question for another time.’_

“Well, with you saying not to look into it, it just makes me all the more interested.”

“You should have more trust in me, detective!” Kurusu said with fake hurt in his voice, “I’m giving you valuable intel about your target.”

“It’s just a name Kurusu. I’m fairly positive there isn’t any groundbreaking revelations I could get from it, however, I do appreciate your concern about the case.”

“Anytime, and if you ever need new intel for your case you know where to find me.” Kurusu finished with a wink towards Goro.

Putting Kurusu’s assistance for evidence aside, Goro now thought to make it a habit to visit LeBlanc some more. Kurusu did make a very good cup of coffee, and it was a nice place to work on cases in or even simply read his book in.

“Alright you’ve convinced me. I’ll stop by Leblanc when I get the chance, but I do expect a good cup of coffee with my visit.”

“How about a chess match too?”

“If I feel like beating you at chess then sure, but I thought you were offering to give me more information on the Phantom Thieves since apparently I shouldn’t be looking too much into their name.”

“Sure, I’ll give you some more info, but only if I feel like it.”

Well, Goro supposes that only made sense. Why would Kurusu even want to give him more information about the thieves anyway. Kurusu wouldn’t be so idiotic to give away information about his own group plus, he’d only known Goro for a little over a month, and there was no way Kurusu would trust him that much after knowing Goro for that little of time.

Well to Goro’s knowledge, they had only known each other for a month, but to Akira, they had known each other for much longer.

***

“The influence of Ryuji Lovers knows no bounds...I underestimated it honestly.”

Goro had underestimated it, but not in the way he just implied.

How braindead does someone have to be to put their name into the group name of a secret operation! He really thought Kurusu was smarter than to go along with a name like that, but from what he’s seen of Sakamoto, he can imagine the blond insisting relentlessly on the name until Kurusu finally agreed to it.

Goro hoped that was the case anyway. If it wasn’t, he might have to thoroughly reevaluate Kurusu.

“I’m pretty proud of this name. Now Ryuji doesn’t have to worry about shouting to the world that we’re the Phantom Thieves. He can do it and know we’ll still love him after he does it, but more importantly what do you think about the name?”

Well, time to start that reevaluation on Akira Kurusu.

“Kurusu, may I first ask you a question before I give you your answer?”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you come up with this name in particular, and more importantly why are you asking for my opinion?

“Watch yourself, detective. That was two questions; I’m only going to answer the first and then you’ll give me your opinion.” Kurusu said with a smug grin on his face.

Sometimes Kurusu was so...insufferable.

“I just chose it because I love Ryuji.” Kurusu explained and then after a couple beats of silence, and Goro looking unamused, he quickly added, “As a friend! I love Ryuji as a friend.”

It wasn’t like Goro was going to get the wrong idea from the name; it was clear Kurusu had some interest in Goro if anything was to be taken from their outing at the cafe with Yoshizawa. Kurusu wouldn’t stop staring at him until Yoshizawa spoke against his precious Phantom Thieves.

“But why give away a person in your operation just for a name?” Goro proceeded with his line of questioning, but was swiftly shut down.

“Stop right there Goro. What did we say about the number of questions you were allowed to ask?”

Goro groaned in frustration towards Kurusu, and he begrudgingly gave his opinion to Kurusu about the name.

“If you want my very honest opinion, it is such an idiotic name. Why on earth would someone put out their name if it’s supposed to be a secret organization. Though, I suppose the name could be a red herring, and a person named Ryuji does not in fact exist in the Phantom Thieves, however, I know this to be false based on what you just said.”

“That was your most in depth opinion about the name by far.” Kurusu mused.

“You say that like I’ve given my opinion on their name before.”

“Who’s to say you haven’t?”

“Very funny Kurusu, but I’m pretty sure I would remember giving my own opinion about the name of the thieves.”

“Of course you would.” Kurusu said, laughing to himself like there was only some joke that he was getting.

How odd.

***

“The influence of Royal Flush knows no bounds...I underestimated it honestly.”

Kurusu left no room for Goro to think before imputing his own opinion about the name.

“I came up with this name after playing cards with you and the others so much. You also kept beating me, so call this a bit of revenge for beating me so much.”

Goro couldn’t ever remember beating Kurusu at cards. He could remember beating him at billiards, chess, and even Gun About a number times, but he can’t recall ever beating him at cards.

“Kurusu, are you sure you’re remembering things correctly? I don’t recall ever beating you at Poker or any card game for that matter.”

“Oh yeah I guess that was the you in my mind. You see there’s this place called the Thieves Den in my head or something, and you, me, and all the other thieves play Tycoon there, and recently you just countered my revolution and bankrupted me. Needless to say, I was not very happy about that one Goro.”

“Kurusu what hell are you talking about?”

“Yeah I didn’t really expect you to get it, but hey can’t say I didn’t try.”

Goro decided he had better things to do with his time than listen to Kurusu’s delusions about them playing cards, and he promptly walked away from the conversation.

If he hurried, maybe he could make his way back to his apartment and bike to his work from there.

“No Goro wait! Let me try to explain again. I don’t understand it either, but you’re really good at the card game in my head,”

Goro just kept walking away from the conversation hoping that Kurusu would not follow him back to his apartment in hopes of explaining his ‘head card games’.

***

“The influence of…”

Goro knew what Kurusu was playing at, and he had no desire to play along, but it seemed that Kurusu was very insistent about getting him to play.

“The influence of what?” Kurusu asked with feigned confusion, but Goro could see the smile threatening to break out on Kurusu’s face. Goro supposed he might as well get it over with and say the damn name.

“The influence of Akechi’s Ass knows no bounds...I underestimated it honestly.”

There he said it, and from the looks of it Kurusu has lost his composure and is now trying not to double over from laughter in the middle of a very busy place.

“Oh...oh gosh,” Kurusu managed to stutter out through his fit of laughter that was threatening to topple him to the floor, “I thought the last name was good revenge, b-but this is so much better than that!”

“Kurusu.” Goro tried to get him out of his laughing fit, but to no avail which was frustrating because now people were starting to stare.

“Akira.” Goro tried using his first name this time and with a bit more firmness to his voice, but that didn’t seem to work either.

Time for drastic measures.

Goro swiftly, and with a bit more force than necessary, slapped Kurusu across the face. He probably took a little too much satisfaction from doing that, but honestly Kurusu deserved it after coming up with a name like that.

“Ow... don’t you think that was a bit unnecessary Goro? There was no need to be such an ass about it.” Kurusu said with a triumphant grin on his face

Goro was about to commit murder in this train station at 7:03 in the morning.

“I don’t think it was unnecessary in the slightest. Actually I think you deserve a bit more punishment for that one.”

“Oh? Tell me more about this punishment that I should receive.”

“I think you should be shot through the head for slandering my good name like that.”

“Just wait a couple months Goro, and you’ll get your chance.”

He hoped Kurusu was only joking about that, and he really hoped that Kurusu hadn’t somehow figured out his plan to kill him somewhere down the road, but something told Goro that somehow Kurusu knew.

***

“The influence of Stolen Heart knows no bounds...I underestimated it honestly.”

“So...what do you think of this name?”

‘ _This name,_ ’ Goro thought it was an odd way to phrase it, but he supposes there were technically two names the Phantom Thieves were known by. He figured he’d play along and give Kurusu an answer.

“Well if you want my honest opinion, the name doesn’t make sense to me. Yes the thieves steal hearts supposedly, but the name almost implies that they’ve had their heart stolen instead.”

“And what if you’ve stolen one of their hearts detective?”

“Well that would be impossible since I am clearly not a part of the Phantom Thieves, and if for some absurd reason I was, why would I steal one of the hearts of my teammates?”

Kurusu looked defeated for some reason, but Goro couldn’t fathom why.

“You can be really dense sometimes for a detective.” Kurusu said, and Goro almost wanted to reply that he wasn’t a real detective, but that would blow a whole two years of work.

“That’s a bit rude to say don’t you think?”

“Not as rude as slapping me in the face when I was just having a bit of fun.”

“Apologies? I don’t recall slapping you in the face.” However if he did slap Kurusu in his face, he wouldn’t apologize for it.

“Oh you weren’t sorry for it,” Goro figured that much,“and by the way I managed to get you back in Tycoon by countering your revolution and making you go bankrupt, so I finally won something against you!”

“Congratulations Kurusu?”

Goro honestly had no idea what the conversation had turned into at this point, but he figured it would be more of a headache than it was worth to figure out what Kurusu was talking about.

“Close enough, Normally you say,‘Impressive. Congratulations!’” Kurusu said in a mockery of his voice.

At this point, he thought Kurusu was insane and it was probably in his own best interest to ignore him, but this proved to be the wrong solution.

“Hey Goro, do you have any name suggestions for next time? Goro? Hey, I’m asking for your valuable opinion here.”

“Well if it’s my opinion that is so valuable, then why don’t you just use my name for your group’s name next time.”

Kurusu seemed to consider this for a second.

“Why didn’t I think of that one before, and I even think your full name fits in the character limit for the name selection.”

Goro just decided to not respond to that comment.

***

“I’m not saying it Akira.”

“Come on Goro...you wanted this. You even said, ‘The influence of Akechi’s Ass’, so why won’t you say this one?”

Goro turned a shade of red at the mention of one of the worse names that Akira had come up with. “I didn’t think you would actually take me seriously when I put the suggestion out there.”

“And I didn’t think you would suddenly remember all the previous names and timelines, but here we are.”

They really had no idea why Goro suddenly remembered the past 6 (going on 7!) timelines. The best theory Goro could come up with was that he influenced this timeline from another timeline, so now he got the right to remember or something like that.

Akira was just happy that Goro now remembered all of the other names that he had come up with for the Phantom Thieves.

“Just say it Goro; it’s like a tradition that you say the crappy names I come up with at this point.”

“And it’s a tradition I wish to stop taking part in now that I know it’s happening.”

“You’re no fun…” Akira said, sulking onto Goro’s shoulder,“I’ll make sure to get you back next run through.”

“Do your worst Akira, though I don’t think you can embarrass me more than you did with the name ‘Akechi’s Ass’.”

“Just you wait and see sweetheart. I’ve got a whole run to come up with new name ideas.”

***

Goro was terribly mistaken when he thought Akira couldn’t come up with a worse name for the group the next time through.

He almost wanted to avoid the train station that day, but he didn’t dare break the timeline for fear of messing more things up.

Akira looked all too happy when Goro approached him at the train station that morning. Goro wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of struggling with the name.

“The influence of Date me Goro knows no bounds...I underestimated it honestly. There Akira are you happy now that I said your idiotic group name.”

To Akira’s credit, he didn’t fall over laughing when Goro said the name. He just gave Goro a knowing, smug smile.

“So Goro, what do you say? Wanna go on a date?”

“Idiot, we’ve been on a few of those already. I don’t see why you need to put it on every calling card you send out or why you made it your group name if we were already dating in the last timeline.”

“Call it my revenge for what happened when I named the group ‘Stolen Heart’. You were so dense when I tried back then that I thought I may as well make it clear as day now.”

“Well congratulations! Now all of Shibuya knows that the Phantom Thieves want to date Goro Akechi. I hope you're happy your plan worked.”

Akira didn't reply right away, and he instead gave Goro a small kiss on the cheek,

“I couldn’t be happier with how it all played out.”

**Author's Note:**

> There are a few references to streamers/Youtubers in here, but I'm sure quite a few of you picked up that :)
> 
> Thank you very much for reading my very dumb idea all the way to the end!


End file.
